​Abstract: The role of ultrasound in medicine has grown substantially from the quite limited applications in the late 1960s to that of a front-line diagnostic tool in cardiology and a widely employed modality in many other medical disciplines. This talk will address some of the physics that underlies the use of diagnostic ultrasound as well the potential role of tissue characterization to complement ultrasonic imaging.

Dr. Miller is currently professor of physics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where he holds the Albert Gordon Hill chair, and serves as director of the Laboratory for Ultrasonics. He also holds the rank of professor of medicine in the Washington University School of Medicine and professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering. Miller graduated Summa Cum Laude with an A.B. in Physics from St. Louis University in 1964, received an M.A. in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1969 from Washington University where he joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Physics in 1970. Dr. Miller is a fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the Acoustical Society of America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He was honored with the Silver Medal of the Acoustical Society of America in 2004 and with the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control (UFFC) Society’s Achievement Award in 2006 and as its Rayleigh Award recipient in 2016. For more than 40 years, Miller has taught an undergraduate course aimed at biomedical engineers and premedical students entitled “Physics of the Heart”.